Is International Business Settlement Holdings Limited’s (HKG:147) Shareholder Ownership Skewed Towards Insiders?

The big shareholder groups in International Business Settlement Holdings Limited (HKG:147) have power over the company. Insiders often own a large chunk of younger, smaller, companies while huge companies tend to have institutions as shareholders. Warren Buffett said that he likes “a business with enduring competitive advantages that is run by able and owner-oriented people.” So it’s nice to see some insider ownership, because it may suggest that management is owner-oriented.

International Business Settlement Holdings is a smaller company with a market capitalization of HK$1.7b, so it may still be flying under the radar of many institutional investors. In the chart below, we can see that institutions are not on the share registry. Let’s delve deeper into each type of owner, to discover more about International Business Settlement Holdings.

Check out our latest analysis for International Business Settlement Holdings

What Does The Lack Of Institutional Ownership Tell Us About International Business Settlement Holdings?

Small companies that are not very actively traded often lack institutional investors, but it’s less common to see large companies without them.

There are many reasons why a company might not have any institutions on the share registry. It may be hard for institutions to buy large amounts of shares, if liquidity (the amount of shares traded each day) is low. If the company has not needed to raise capital, institutions might lack the opportunity to build a position. Alternatively, there might be something about the company that has kept institutional investors away. International Business Settlement Holdings might not have the sort of past performance institutions are looking for, or perhaps they simply have not studied the business closely.

Hedge funds don’t have many shares in International Business Settlement Holdings. Long Grand Limited is currently the largest shareholder, with 51% of shares outstanding. With such a huge stake in the ownership, we infer that they have significant control of the future of the company. Feng Luo is the second largest shareholder owning 13% of common stock, and China Cinda (HK) Asset Management Co., Limited holds about 6.3% of the company stock.

Researching institutional ownership is a good way to gauge and filter a stock’s expected performance. The same can be achieved by studying analyst sentiments. We’re not picking up on any analyst coverage of the stock at the moment, so the company is unlikely to be widely held.

Insider Ownership Of International Business Settlement Holdings

The definition of an insider can differ slightly between different countries, but members of the board of directors always count. Company management run the business, but the CEO will answer to the board, even if he or she is a member of it.

Insider ownership is positive when it signals leadership are thinking like the true owners of the company. However, high insider ownership can also give immense power to a small group within the company. This can be negative in some circumstances.

Our most recent data indicates that insiders own a reasonable proportion of International Business Settlement Holdings Limited. Insiders own HK$216m worth of shares in the HK$1.7b company. This may suggest that the founders still own a lot of shares. You can click here to see if they have been buying or selling.

General Public Ownership

The general public, with a 30% stake in the company, will not easily be ignored. While this size of ownership may not be enough to sway a policy decision in their favour, they can still make a collective impact on company policies.

Private Equity Ownership

With an ownership of 6.3%, private equity firms are in a position to play a role in shaping corporate strategy with a focus on value creation. Sometimes we see private equity stick around for the long term, but generally speaking they have a shorter investment horizon and — as the name suggests — don’t invest in public companies much. After some time they may look to sell and redeploy capital elsewhere.

Private Company Ownership

Our data indicates that Private Companies hold 51%, of the company’s shares. It might be worth looking deeper into this. If related parties, such as insiders, have an interest in one of these private companies, that should be disclosed in the annual report. Private companies may also have a strategic interest in the company.

Next Steps:

It’s always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand International Business Settlement Holdings better, we need to consider many other factors. Take risks for example – International Business Settlement Holdings has 2 warning signs (and 1 which is concerning) we think you should know about.

If you would prefer check out another company — one with potentially superior financials — then do not miss this free list of interesting companies, backed by strong financial data.

NB: Figures in this article are calculated using data from the last twelve months, which refer to the 12-month period ending on the last date of the month the financial statement is dated. This may not be consistent with full year annual report figures.

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This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.
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